Delgano: A Dark Contemporary Interracial Romance

“Are you actually calm or in a state of shock?” he asked.

“Shock. Definitely shock.”

“Is your phone in the car?”

She removed it from her dress and handed it to him. He called Hannah and noticed that not only was her name already programmed, but there was also a missed call from her.

“I’m disowning you as my cousin,” Hannah greeted.

“Good to know,” he said. “It’s me.”

She paused. “What did you do?’

“I killed some people.”

“Where are you?”

“In front of Sayeda’s house.”

“One second.”

Her voice grew fainter as she switched to talking to someone in the background. They’d stopped on the other side of the gate leading up to the front walk, and Sayeda was staring at the two bodies as if she could see nothing else.

He stepped in front of her.

“Someone’s coming,” Hannah said. “Trev’s sending a clean-up crew.”

“Thank you, for Sayeda’s sake. You know, your cousin.”

“I like you, and I hate that I do. I’d fully intended to fake it until I made it. Now, look at me.” Hannah sighed, and in her sigh alone, he heard the conversation switch gears. “Where’s Sayeda? Is she safe?”

They’d both had their hackles raised when they first met, but whoever decided they belonged on a team together had to be a personality genius.

“Yes, she’s safe.”

“Stay with her.”

“Of course.”

“I’ll have someone grab the boys and bring them to the villa. In the meantime, keep the phone and wait for my call. Only mine.”

“Sure.”

“See you later.”

He hung up, hid the bodies as best as he could—again, for Sayeda’s sake—and followed her into the house.

She didn’t make it past the courtyard.

The first chair they passed, she slumped down onto the seat, bent her head, and stuck her fingers inside the head covering to massage her scalp.

He crouched in front of her.

“Doesn’t this seem odd to you?” she asked. “I’ve just been wracking my brain about this, and I feel like someone’s not telling me something. Even worse, I feel kind of like bait.”

“Why would you be bait? For who?”

She raised her head and searched his face, the movements of her eyes so quick that the whites appeared to twitch. “First of all, thank you, Adrían.”